Author
Topic: Big Items of the Future! (Read 38045 times)

I'm a huge Sailbarge advocate (real big, real expensive), but I agree with Adam's assessment that as vehicles go it's not comparable to the Black Pearl since it really is a secondary or even tertiary vehicle. The thing it has going for it is it's a central piece to a large portion of action. There's lots of features possible like opening doors, spring floors to eject figures off the vehicle, spring-action guns on the deck, ropes to swing from, etc. To that end it's comparable in design to a pirate ship type toy for sure...

I think there are other vehicles they'd look at first, and to be honest I think they'd look to the prequals before doing another larger-scaled OT vehicle. They're more recent, more relevant to younger collectors and the parents who supply them, and there's probably more appealing choices for "large" vehicles in those films.

What I'm more hopeful on is maybe resculpts of starfighters, Slave I, and other vehicles that are currently underscale, but aren't so grossly huge that a scale version of them is out of the question. AT-ST, Slave I, Y-Wing, etc., and I'd love a scale version of any of those... PT vehicles though, you can almost sense Hasbro's drool on the possibilities if that AT-TE does very well at retail... Especially with a form of media support for it acting as a half hour or hour long commercial. Droid tanks, Juggernaughts, EU vehicle designs, etc. That's where I think they're gonna be looking.

I agree that Hasbro will be looking at prequel vehicles next if they even look at doing anymore at all. But if they do something OT related, I can't see much really being that interesting in terms of large vehicles past the Sail Barge.

Tantive IV - I suppose this is possible, though I'm more interested in getting a hallway for Rebels to get their asses kicked my Stormies. Maybe if they did something it could have a section that comes off and reveals the main hallway and a few other rooms. I'm sure that the logistics of this are possible, but I doubt we'll ever see it. One thing that the Tantive does have going for it though is that we see it in ROTS too.

Sandcrawler - As much as I'd love to see a new bigger version, I don't see it being exciting enough to warrant a $100 or so price tag.

Imperial Landing Craft - Maybe this could be made. They might be able to reuses some parts from the Imperial Shuttle (wings) to making it happen.

AT-ST - Very doable. I'd be surprised if we didn't see a new one actually... would have been great if they had made a new one for the Force Unleashed game, then reused it with correct ROTJ cannons.

Rebel Transport - I'd like to see one. But it's boring as hell.

Sail Barge - Other than the AT-ST (which really isn't that big), I'd say this would be very exciting and would do well enough at retail. Or, of course, one of these days we *might* see a $150 AT-AT that's new. Which of course would make me giddy with excitement.

A scale AT-ST I don't even consider a large vehicle... It's just not big. Like Starfighters or speeders, it's nothing I'd put in this category ($100+ vehicles). It's doable for much, much less. And it's even doable in relatively small packaging and less shelf space. To me the AT-ST done right is a no-brainer at some point.

Well, you never know-- the Sail Barge could end up being prominent in The Clone Wars. If a Clone touches it, I'm sure it'll turn to gold. Eventually.

In ROTJ, the sail barge didn't do much-- a fat guy was choked on it, and some stuff happened on the top deck. There aren't a lot of neat rooms or compartments like the Falcon/Star Destroyer had. I'm not saying I wouldn't like one, but there really isn't all that much to it that came from the first 30 minutes of ROTJ. You've got some fighting on the upper decks, a place for Jabba and his cronies to sit, and maybe something to go swing to a skiff. Oh, and some gimmick to allow Luke to crawl up the side and throw a guy out, plus at least one giant cannon on top (that we already have). If they can find a way to stuff a pair of skiffs inside, now that'd be pretty significant. It's awesome but lacks "oomph." Hasbro's shown such poor support for The Mighty Jabba since 1995 that I'd be genuinely astonished to see this item come happen without having significant TV-era support expanding its role (and capabilities).

Or you know, giant fan outcry, which is always good to have.

It really is a shame more big ticket ships didn't get more screen time in the six movies. I mean, there's the Star Destroyers, and some of the fighters, but beyond that most of the big ships were blink-and-you'll-miss-it creations. I blame the flanneled one for not giving his art department's awesome hardware creations more screen time. Here's hoping television gives all these classic ships the support they need to make our next obscene toy purchase.

Like everyone else, I'm in the camp that would really like to see the Sail Barge made. Sure it wouldn't be to scale or anything, but even something pretty large would be cool (heck, I'd like to see the Skiff re-released, just because I missed it, but maybe that's an idea for an UBP). Also, like others have mentioned, I don't know how likely it is - at least right away. If these big ships (Falcon/AT-TE) sell like gangbusters, I'm sure we'll see more large vehicles - probably starting with the PT stuff mentioned already. Then, down the road, maybe we'll see Hasbro consider something like the Barge. It does have a lot of action on it in the movie, even if it is for a fairly brief period of time. If it appears in the animated/live action series in any capacity, that can only help. I personally hope it happens, but time will tell. I do think that we'll see some of the re-done OT vehicles that people have been mentioning. We've seen Hasbro mention the AT-ST specifically in some Q and A's I believe, and I think that might already be in the works (I think they've mentioned the Snowspeeder as well). With them pumping out a lot of these with the older mold again in recent years, maybe that was the last "hurrah" before all-new versions are released. I hope so.

On the subject of kids liking OT vs PT, I do think they like both a lot, but its just the fact that the PT is so much more visible right now to kids. The majority of figures/figure waves seem to be focused in that area (ROTS in particular), the movies are the most recent and ones they could have seen in theatres, and now the Clone Wars series will make that era even more accessible. I do think a re-release of the OT in theatres some day could really help that though. You have to figure that unless their parents are at least minor fans, they may not have ever even seen the Original Trilogy. At least its back on TV now, so maybe that will give some kids the chance to see it.

I'd like to see a Sail Barge too, but I'd rather have all-new versions of the AT-ST and Tatooine Skiff. I like my Target exclusive one, but if they wanted to make a nice $40-50 version that could hold all the requisite figures and have a pack-in Weequay that has the Master Sev head on it, I'd buy one.

I have sat out this one for a while (I think my position may be known already...) but I think it would be a safe bet that if the Falcon does well, we will see a big-honking Death Star the next Christmas.

There are only a few items Hasbro has gone on the record about wanting to do. A more accurate X-Wing (which we got in '97,) a larger, modern Falcon (which was developed I'm sure as a labor of love more than anything and will be out in July?) and a new Death Star.

Jesse's story last week mentioned the new chipboard Death Star mock-up that Hasbro apparently has already developed, and there was concept art for a 3-foot tall plastic Death Star playset planned for POTF2 that was revealed at Celebration III.

A Death Star will come, it is the last big iconic piece left for them to do that they really really want to do. If we buy into this huge Falcon (and we will, won't we?) it only makes sense. Then, if they want to, they can rerelease the Falcon with ESB quotes and new pack-ins for the next holiday, and then a Death Star II the year after that. And what comes next? Why, ROTJ-quoting Falcon with Lando and Nien Nunb figures. And so on forever.

I can't imagine them ever making a Sail Barge or--my personal most-wanted--a Cloud City. Maybe rereleasing the vintage Ewok Village as someone's exclusive (or as a Galactic Heroes item as was recently whispered in their ear in the QnAs). Otherwise I don't see them tooling any more big-ticket OT items after the Death Star in '09.

Regarding the Sail Barge, I think we are going to have to take a wait and see approach that will be strongly based off the success of the Falcon, but also with what we see in the live action TV series. We don't know what's going to appear in it. I have a feeling that we will see Tatooine in that series though so if that's the case, I wouldn't rule out the Sail Barge appearing too, which will really increase the chances of it being made.

So I don't see 2009 as being a make or break year for the last hurrah for large scale OT items being made... why not 2010? Or 2011? Any reason you throw out 2009 as the year Muftak, or are you just speculating (which I often do)?

Regarding the Death Star, I think it's coming at some point. I just hope they do it justice.

I can not believe they have not done something with a Death Star/Playset in the modern era. I know they have had plans or mock-ups, etc. But they still have not brought anything out yet. Yeah, they did those lame Chasm and Detention Block sets and that has been it. I suppose the garbage compactor diorama could count?

All they really have to do is something like that vintage Palitoy set but make it a bit nicer. Maybe give it a plastic shell to cover it. I don't know. I am not a toymaker but it just seems like by now they could have come up with something, anything. It's crawling with Imperials and the main characters of the film. I would think they would have been all over it by now. Practically any kid that watches ANH on video would be salivating to get one. Oh well.

Any reason you throw out 2009 as the year Muftak, or are you just speculating (which I often do)?

Speculating, but based on the fact that they have the Death Star plans already (though not in the main computer. ) and if they can sell a Falcon with no media tie-in then they know they can sell the Death Star. They will feel the need to top themselves after their marketing success, and this is the only thing better than a Falcon.

Need proof? What was the big-ticket item in the Star Wars Transformers sub-line for 2006? And what was the big-ticket item for 2007?

I base my opinions on OT tie-ins only. On the possibility of the Barge in the Clone Wars, I still doubt it would get made before a Turbo Tank. For that matter, we are speculating dangerously close to the live-action show timeline, and who knows what will show up there. More than likely some form of Star Destroyer, possibly even the Death Star itself.